


A Christmas Mistake

by RoseThornhill



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21884308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseThornhill/pseuds/RoseThornhill
Summary: Mulder tries to make it up to Scully when she misses Christmas with her mom. Will she forgive him?
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 13
Kudos: 55
Collections: X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange (2019)





	A Christmas Mistake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ceruleanmilieu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceruleanmilieu/gifts).



> For ceruleanmilieu. I hope you enjoy! My prompt: "Scully can't spend the holidays with her family for whatever reasons and Mulder suprises her with a festive Xmas celebration. Maybe Mulder isn't too into Christmas but knows that Scully loves it."

**December 19th**

"Got big Christmas plans?" Mulder asked casually.

Scully was instantly suspicious. Mulder never had Christmas plans; Scully was fairly certain he never celebrated the holiday. It made her sad, since Christmas was always a big deal in her family. But she was suspicious because his asking her this, so close to the holiday, could only mean one thing.

"Just going to be me and my mom this year," Scully said carefully. "Bill can't make it, and we don't know where Charlie is. This is our first Christmas without Melissa." She hoped that this caveat would make Mulder back off.

It didn't.

"Oh, so you will be in town," Mulder said, completely oblivious to Scully's careful wording. He tossed a file on the desk. "We have a case."

Scully rolled her eyes and flipped through the file. As soon as she saw "monster" in an old news clipping, she was done. "So you want us to go to Idaho, days before Christmas, to hunt monsters?"

"They only appear around Christmas," Mulder explained. "If we don't go now, we will have to wait a whole year." He could see she was about to fight him, so he pulled out his trump card: "We have a human victim." Scully sighed. She couldn't say no when real victims were involved.

* * *

**December 22nd**

Scully was cold, tired, and fed up. She had dealt with a lot of Mulder's nonsense, and usually had fun with it. She was always impressed with the strange cases he chased and the crazy - but inventive - stories he came up with in his head. But she was done with this one. They had one victim, whose death showed no signs of foul play. After she had autopsied the body, she found proof that this man had been mauled by a bear. The few "witnesses" they spoke with had nothing concrete to add. There was no crime; there was no monster.

She couldn't wait to go home tomorrow.

Mulder came into her room, excited. Again, Scully tuned out as he went on about another witness he was certain would crack this case wide open. All she heard was he had booked them on the red eye flight home, instead of the first flight out in the morning.

"I promise, you will get home to your mom before Christmas."

* * *

**December 23rd**

As Scully expected, Mulder's "star witness" was nothing more than a stoner who could barely remember his own name. It was a pointless diversion, and Scully was eager to get to the airport. The snow fall was starting to turn into a storm and Scully didn't want to miss their flight.

They arrived more than two hours before their scheduled flight, but at that point, the woman at the ticket desk already knew what Scully had feared. Their flight was delayed. She promised that there was supposed to be a break in the weather around two AM and she was _certain_ their flight would leave then. Scully was skeptical it would happen, but she agreed to wait, just in case. The thought of her mom being alone on Christmas for the first time in her life made her sick.

Two o'clock came and went. The storm didn't slow down. By three o'clock, all flights in and out were canceled.

Scully didn't speak a word to Mulder on the drive back to their motel.

* * *

**December 24th**

"Mom, I'm so sorry," Scully begged into the phone, trying to remain calm herself. "We are snowed in. There is no way for me to get home safely."

Mulder sat in the corner, feeling small. He can't believe he screwed up Christmas for his partner, his friend. Maybe his best friend. After all, who else would put up with the crap he put her through?

Scully hung up the phone, and Mulder tried to jump in with the apologies. Instead, Scully jumped down his throat.

"I don't want to hear your apologies, Mulder! I wanted to leave days ago. Hell, I didn't want to come at all, but I did, because you swore you would have me home for Christmas. This is the first year that my mom is alone, completely alone! My father is gone, Melissa is gone, Bill couldn't get leave, who the hell knows where Charlie is!" Scully was getting angrier by the minute, her face red and her voice at a level that Mulder had never heard before.

Suddenly she crumpled, and Mulder understood. She wasn't just worried about her mom; she was worried about her own Christmas. Christmas was special to Scully. Mulder never really celebrated Christmas - not after Samantha disappeared, anyway. It was too painful for his parents. Lots of things were too painful after Samantha disappeared.

"I just-- I just wanted to have Christmas with my mom," Scully croaked. Mulder recognized that voice. She was fighting back tears. "She's the only family I have left," she whispered. Mulder was gut punched. Scully didn't see him as family. He was quite sure that his attraction to her was not reciprocated, but he at least thought they were becoming close.

He was determined to change that.

"I could apologize until I was blue in the face," Mulder said, putting his hands on her shoulders comfortingly. "But that won't mean anything. So I'm going to go find us some Chinese takeout - extra egg rolls for you - and we will have a Jewish Christmas. We will watch some terrible Christmas special on the TV and eat our way through sweet n' sour chicken and lo mein and fried rice." She looked at him doubtfully, and he quickly added, "Or I will deliver all the food to you and go sit alone in my room and leave you to hate me."

Scully tried to force a smile, but it came across more like a grimace. Mulder still took it as a sign that he wouldn't be in the doghouse forever. "Why don't you go take a hot bubble bath. I'll call you when I return with food." Scully nodded and stomped into the bathroom. "And don't forget the mushu!" she yelled, slamming the door behind her.

Mulder slipped out the door quietly, determined to make this right.

* * *

Mulder drove slowly through the blizzard, careful not to spin out. The motel manager had directed him to the only Chinese restaurant in town, located in a strip mall that was devoid of cars. But he did see something else in that strip mall: an all-night pharmacy. He got an idea.

After placing a (huge) order at the Chinese restaurant, Mulder hurried over to the pharmacy, and bought every Christmas item he could find: Christmas lights; a small plastic tree; ornaments; paper cut-outs of Santa and snowflakes; candy canes; red and green M&Ms Christmas tree-shaped chocolates; a "pin the tail on the reindeer" game. He got stockings and found silly gifts to slip inside (a scented candle, a tiny jigsaw puzzle, a little reindeer toy that shoots foam balls out of its butt). He even found eggnog, and after a moment of contemplation, got a small bottle of rum. Just in case.

His food was just being packaged when he returned to the restaurant. Excitement caused him to drive a little faster than was probably safe. He slipped back into his room without being noticed, and set about turning the place into Christmas village, throwing himself into decorating and trying not to think about how he would get a clearly pissed Scully over to his room.

* * *

Scully settled into a steaming hot bath and instantly began to relax. Just a little. She was still furious at Mulder, but the hot water helped her unclench. She remained in the tub until the hot water turned tepid. She put on her pajamas and sat down to read while she waited for food.

Scully read until her stomach started grumbling. She realized Mulder had been gone an hour. _He should be back with food by now_ , she thought, _unless the blizzard was really bad._ She tried to feel bad about sending him out in a potentially dangerous storm, but she couldn't. With a sigh, she put on her robe and boots and went looking for her food.

She planned to take her food back to her room. She didn't want to give Mulder the satisfaction of knowing her anger had waned. But when he answered the door, the sight that greeted her made her change her mind.

Mulder's room had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland. The walls were strung with colored lights. A bare plastic Christmas tree sat in the center of the room, a box of ornaments beside it. Stockings had been hung beneath the television with care, and they bulged with treats and gifts.

"I feel really bad about making you miss Christmas with your mom," he said sheepishly. "This doesn't make up for it, but hopefully this will hold you over until you can get home to her."

Scully was overwhelmed. Mulder had really worked hard on this. She knew it was all for her; Mulder barely acknowledged Christmas, let alone celebrated it. Her eyes stung with tears, so she gave Mulder a big hug to hide her wet eyes.

"Thank you," she said softly. When her eyes dried up, she pulled away. "I'm still upset," she insisted, trying to keep a hard edge to her voice (though by now it had dulled considerably). "But at least I will eat with you."

Mulder smiled, and pulled out a chair for her. She sat, and saw a sumptuous (if a bit cold) Chinese meal set out before her. "Nog, m'lady?" he asked, producing the carton from an ice bucket.

Scully giggled. He really went all out on this. "Sure, thanks."

"Since we technically are not on the clock anymore..." Mulder said cautiously, as he pulled out the bottle of rum.

Scully held out her cup. "Just a little bit." She trusted Mulder with her life; she was pretty sure she could trust him with a little rum.

Mulder already had _A Christmas Story_ selected on the TV, and Scully was pleased it wasn't something _too_ heart-wrenching. They ate and watched the movie. Though they didn't talk much, Mulder could feel Scully defrosting. By the time the movie was over, she was full, relaxed, and ready for Christmas activities.

First, they decorated the tree. Well, Scully decorated the tree. Mulder sat back and watched her, enjoying her childlike excitement. She was excited and giggly, yet still maintained her stringent logic, carefully placing every ornament so the tree was perfectly balanced.

A second cup of rummy eggnog, and they played Pin the Red Nose on Rudolph. Scully easily submitted to putting on the blindfold, and giggled as Mulder spun her around before releasing her to pin the nose. The spinning and the rum made for a silly, sloppy Scully.

On the third - and final - cup of rummy eggnog, Scully had a candy cane while cutting snowflakes out of construction paper. After that, he noticed the time.

"It's after midnight. Christmas day. I think you can open your presents now."

"I get presents?" Scully's words were slightly slurred, which Mulder found adorable. It just added to the childlike wonder she brought to the holiday.

Mulder presented her with her stocking, and she ripped open her presents with girlish glee. She wasted no time in opening the reindeer toy and took great joy in shooting foam balls at her partner.

With the evening's activities completed, the pair sat together on the bed and watched _It's a Wonderful Life_. Scully was getting sleepy, but didn't want to go back to her own room. She snuggled down a little deeper into the bed.

"Thank you for this," she said. Mulder put his arm around her and pulled her close. She was too sleepy and too comfortable to pull away, as propriety would dictate. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Mulder watched her even breathing. He leaned over and put a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Merry Christmas, Scully," he whispered.


End file.
